The Internet is one of the primary arenas for criminal and fraudulent operations. Scam artists browse the web, hunting for targets for their malicious schemes, and students often fall into their traps due to a lack of caution, life experience, and digital literacy. So, if you are currently in school or college, you must educate yourself on the potential hazards and know how to stay safe.
Among all the different types of online fraud schemes, phishing is the most common one. Approximately 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent daily. So, this is the number one hazard you should be aware of and protect yourself from.
Simply put, phishing is a cybercrime that attempts to steal your sensitive information, such as login details and passwords, bank details, credit card numbers, etc. To accomplish the goal, criminals pretend to be representatives of a trusted organization or company and contact you to request your information, most often via email. They can pretend to represent your bank, scholarship organizations, etc. But one scheme you should look out for most of all is when they pretend to be a university.
Phishing Emails From Fake Universities: 5 Tips to Spot the Danger
When applying to a university, you will likely have lots of correspondence with your future school. You will have to submit a wealth of different forms, documents, and essays. So, it can be easy to miss fake email addresses in the pile of real ones.
You can also be vulnerable to phishing scams when you are already in college. They might contact you on behalf of your school and try to steal your data.
You must learn how to spot a fake university email to prevent this. So, delegate your current assignments to a trusted essay writer to “write an essay,” save up a bit of time, and let’s explore the key tips for online safety.
1. Check the Email Address and Sender Name
When you receive a new email, the very first thing you should do, according to the basic Internet safety rules, is check the sender’s details. Though many people don’t pay attention to this, sender data can instantly give out a criminal. So here is what you should pay attention to:
- Sender name—Real universities will have their full names indicated in the Sender field. The school’s name must be written with no mistakes, typos, or weird characters.
- Email address name—Every trustful organization will have a clear and descriptive address name. Universities will typically use the name of a specific department or faculty member in the main part of the email address.
- Email domain—The second part of an email address can also give out fraud because it often uses third-party domains, such as “@gmail.com.” Most universities, on the other hand, will have their own unique domains that typically contain the school’s name, for example, “@yale.edu.”
When you receive a university email, be sure to check all the sender details and carefully compare them with the school’s contact details.
2. Carefully Read the Message and Check It for Spelling and Grammar
Cybercriminals are often based in non-English speaking countries and can demonstrate negligence to the language they use in their emails. Universities, on the contrary, are expected to retain a formal tone and flawless grammar in their correspondence. Sending bulk emails with typos and other grammar issues might harm their reputations, which is why grammar is another thing you should check.
Carefully read the email from beginning to end to ensure there are no spelling, punctuation, or grammar mistakes. If you spot any mistakes or misspellings, consider it a red flag and stop any correspondence immediately.
3. Carefully Revise the Attached Links
When sending you emails, both actual universities and phishing scams can send you some links. Generally, a good rule of thumb is never to open links unless absolutely positive about the sender’s reputation and trustworthiness.
So, how can you know if you should click on a specific link or not? First of all, you should analyze the type of link. A regular link should start with “https://,” then contain the site’s URL, and finish with additional directions to the needed page. A red flag is if you see a shortened link instead. A condensed link is significantly shorter than a regular one. Typically, it begins with the name of the service provider (e.g., Bitly or TinyURL) and then contains a number of random numbers and letters. Such links can hide the actual address of a website where the link will take you. Frauds often use this trick to get you to click on a malicious link.
If the link generally looks good, pay special attention to the spelling inside of it. Sometimes, frauds can mimic the real websites of universities with one or several small differences that are hard to spot.
4. Define If the Email Creates a Sense of Urgency
A sense of urgency causes additional pressure and urges you to make a quick decision without thinking too much. This is one of the most popular tricks used by all kinds of fraud artists, including those engaged in phishing.
If criminals pretend to be a university, they can tell you that you only have a few hours left before the final deadline for submitting some additional forms or information. This way, they can force you to click on the link, download a malicious file, or simply share your information with them. Carefully analyze the contents of the email to detect if there is a sense of urgency. If yes, block the sender.
5. Undertake Additional Safety Steps
All the previous tips should help you detect a phishing email from a fake university in order to protect yourself from scams. Additionally, here are a few extra tips to stay safe:
- Never provide personal information. Legitimate universities or companies will never ask you to share it via email.
- Don’t open any attached files, especially if they have .exe, .zip, and .scr extensions. Trusted organizations will most often direct you to their website to download something.
- Don’t click on images. Sometimes, scam artists will send you blank photos or screenshots of an email instead of regular text. In this case, delete the email immediately and don’t click on an image to prevent an automatic download.
Now you have the tips that should help keep you safe. Be sure to learn them by heart and use them every time you receive a suspicious email, not only from fake universities but also from any other kind of organization or company!
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